Chapter 7
Remus and Sirius helped James and Peter pack their things for the winter holiday. The dormitory felt strangely empty without the usual mess of four boys packed into one room. They went and somewhat tearfully saw each other off at the station in Hogsmeade. They hadn’t spent a Christmas away from each other since they were eleven and for Remus, who only had his father to go home to, it felt odd without them. He was sure Sirius felt a similar way, though he didn’t show it. He, apparently, was planning on spending the days leading up to Christmas practicing for the final Quidditch match of the season and was currently digging to the depths of his trunk looking for his gloves. He emerged triumphantly, tossing them on the bed beside the hat Remus knew he wouldn’t wear.
“Now, where is my scarf…”
“I’ve got it,” Remus said, not looking up from his copy of The Count of Monte Cristo.
“Why’ve you got it?” Sirius asked, pulling his head out of his trunk and looking at Remus.
“You dropped it by the lake the other day and I grabbed it,” Remus said. “It’s by the record player.”
There was a lot of rustling and a fair amount of swearing as Sirius put all his winter things on.
“Moony,” Sirius whined when he had finished. Remus glanced at him over the top of his book.
“What, Padfoot,” he said.
“Come and watch me practice,” Sirius said.
“No.”
Sirius flung himself dramatically on the end of Remus’ bed. “It’s too cold to go alone,” he complained.
“Go find Marlene,” Remus said, trying to shove Sirius off his bed with his foot. Sirius rolled over, pining Remus’ leg beneath his stomach.
“Marlene isn’t here and I need someone to throw the quaffle,” he said.
Remus wiggled his leg out from under Sirius and curled up against the headboard of his bed. “That’s what the training quaffle is for.”
“The training quaffle is busted.”
“Then fix it.”
“Moony!”
Sirius sprung forward, snatching Remus’ book away. Remus tried to grab it back but Sirius spun across the room, holding it tight to his chest and laughing.
“Prick! Give it back!” Remus said hotly, swinging for it again and missing. Sirius jumped on top of James’ bed, messing up the sheets.
“You’ve been reading all day, come do something with me,” he said, grinning. Remus glared up at him.
“Give it back, Sirius,” he said. Sirius smirked.
“Oh, now I’ve got your book everything's serious all of a sudden,” he said, laughing at his own joke.
“That wasn’t funny.” Remus frowned.
“What’s up with you anyway? You’ve been all Moody Moony since Prongs and Wormy left,” Sirius said, flopping down on James’ bed. Remus snatched his book back as soon as it was within reach. He noticed Sirius had kept his page.
“Nothing’s up with me,” he said. Sirius raised his eyebrows. “Why would you think something is up with me?”
“Well, for one you were definitely considering murdering me to get your book back just now, Sirius said.
“That’s normal,” Remus said.
“True, but you’ve also only said about three words since they left and that’s not normal,” Sirius said. Remus set his book down on his bedside table and turned back to Sirius who was hanging upside down off the end of James’ bed.
“If I come help you train, will you stop counting my words?” he asked, crossing his arms.
“For now,” Sirius said slyly.
Remus grabbed his hat and gloves and scarf and the two of them made their way down to the Quidditch pitch.
The training quaffle was indeed busted. They left it to hover crookedly around the pitch while Remus threw the quaffle at Sirius while also trying to balance on a broomstick floating fifty feet above the ground.
“You’ve got to actually try and get it past me!” Sirius shouted after catching another one of Remus’ half hearted tosses. Sirius chucked it back. Remus just barely managed to catch it.
“It’s a little hard to do when you haven’t flown in about four years,” Remus said through gritted teeth. He shifted uncomfortably on his broom and it jerked towards the left. Remus shut his eyes, ready to accept his fate, when he felt Sirius’ hands on his back.
“Try sitting this way,” Sirius said, gesturing to the way his own body was positioned. Remus held onto Sirius’ arm and tried to copy the position of his legs. “Ok?” Sirius asked. Remus nodded. Sirius let go of him and flew back over to the goal posts. “Now throw it!” he shouted.
Remus grimaced. His mind was still focused on how Sirius’ hands had felt pressed against the small of his back when he threw the quaffle. It swung slightly to the left but not enough to take Sirius by surprise.
“Too easy, Lupin!” Sirius teased, tossing it back and doing a few circles around the middle goal.
Remus took out his wand and whispered a spell before Sirius was back in position. This time the quaffle soared left then, just before Sirius could grab it, jerked right and flew through the goal.
“You can’t use magic, it’s against the rules!” Sirius said, flying down to retrieve the charmed quaffle.
“I didn’t.” Remus shrugged.
“You did.”
“You didn’t see me.”
“No magic, Moony,” Sirius said, smiling slightly.
Remus rolled his eyes. “Fine, but you have to let me get it in at least a couple of times.”
“Never!” Sirius crowed, flipping his hair in Remus’ face as he flew away.
They played until it started to snow. Remus charmed a pair of snowballs to chase Sirius back to the supply shed and Sirius tried to shove him into the remnants of the snowman Lily and Mary had built last week. They spent the rest of the evening curled up in the common room by the fire playing gobstones. Sirius got sprayed so many times he had to change before they went down to dinner.
On the way down they passed a group of Ravenclaws. Marina Edgcombe was with them. She didn’t spare the pair of them a second glance. Sirius, however, ogled at the entire group as they passed and then at Remus when they were gone.
“That was Marina Edgcombe, wasn’t it?” he asked when they’d taken their usual seats at the Gryffindor table. It was empty save for a trio of seventh years who ignored them when they sat down.
“Yeah, it was,” Remus said, grabbing a plate and serving himself a generous helping of potatoes. They were the crispy kind, his favorite.
“She didn’t even look at you,” Sirius said, ignoring the food in front of him.
“I know,” Remus said, now serving himself some chicken.
“Did you split up?” Sirius asked.
“No.”
“Is that why you were moody this morning?”
“No.”
“Then why—”
“We weren’t dating!” Remus blurted out. One of the seventh years glanced over at them. Sirius looked entirely taken aback. Remus set his plate down and cleared his throat. “I lied. We weren’t dating. I’ve never spoken to her before.”
“What?”
“I didn’t want to tell you guys, I thought… I don’t know what I thought, but I was nervous and she was the first person I thought of and—”
“You didn’t want to tell us what?” Sirius interrupted. Remus stared at him. What was there to be afraid of? There were a lot of things to be afraid of. But Sirius was not one of them. Remus glanced around to make sure they wouldn’t be overheard.
“I was seeing a guy,” Remus said, leaning forward and whispering. The Great Hall wouldn’t have been his first choice to have this conversation in but it was too late now.
“Seeing a guy, as in…?”
“As in we kissed multiple times.”
Sirius sat back. He blinked. He looked Remus up and down. Remus felt his insides knotting themselves together. He glanced around again to make sure no one had come near.
“Is it that Sebastian Cross guy?” Sirius asked, squinting slightly. Remus’ mouth fell open.
“How did you know?” he asked.
Sirius shrugged. “I’ve never seen you go to help someone write an essay who isn’t me, Prongs, or Wormtail at ten o’clock at night before, let alone at the top of the astronomy tower.”
“Were you stalking me on the map?” Remus asked, feeling slightly like he’d just been stupefied. Sirius raised his hands in false innocence.
“I was curious, ok?” he said, smiling.
“Hang on, don’t you care that I was seeing a guy?” Remus asked.
“I mean, I care that the guy you were seeing was Sebastian Cross,” Sirius said, poking at the golden knife beside his empty plate.
“Why? What’s wrong with him?”
Sirius shrugged again. “Well, he’s kinda… meh.”
“What do you mean, he’s meh?” Remus asked, laughing.
“I don’t know, I just think he is,” Sirius said.
“Why? Are you jealous?” Remus regretted the words as soon as he said them. Sirius looked away, his smile fading ever so slightly. Remus felt the heat creeping into his face.
“Anyway,” he said, trying to cover up the awkward moment. “I’m not seeing him anymore.”
“Why not?” Sirius asked.
“He invited me to spend the holiday with him. I said no,” Remus said, poking at a bit of potato with his fork. He imagined what Seb was doing right now. Probably helping his mum get ready for the party. Christmas eve was tomorrow after all.
“Why’d you say no?” Sirius asked. Remus looked up to find that Sirius was looking at him in that way he does, where it seems like he’s looking straight through Remus’ eyes to the very core of his mind. Remus blinked, breaking the spell.
“I couldn’t leave you all by yourself, of course. You’d go mad missing us all,” Remus joked. Sirius rolled his eyes, grinning.
“Of course. What would I do without my Moony?” he said.
That night Remus lay awake, staring at the patch of moonlight on the ceiling above him. It seemed almost cruel that he had gotten the bed from which you could see the moon every night. But he had to admit, its crescent shape was beautiful hanging there among the stars.